This week's Torah portion contains one of the most troubling scenes in the Torah. Parashat Shemini continues the outline of sacrificial laws and in the midst of it, we witness two tragic deaths at the altar, where the priests would carry out the sacrifices. Aaron's sons, Nadav and Abihu, having witnessed their father make sacrifices on the altar, make an offering of their own, one which the Torah describes as an eish zarah, an alien fire. Immediately following, God sends a fire down, consuming the two young men instantly. When Moses tries to console Aaron with words I hardly find comforting (This is what the Eternal meant when God said: Through those near to Me I show Myself holy, and gain glory before all people. - Lev. 10:3), Aaron is speechless. The text says, "Vayidom Aharon - Aaron was silent" (Lev. 10:3).Rashbam (Rabbi Samuel ben Meir), the 12th century French commentator, tells us that when the text says that Aaron was silent, it means that he was silent about his grief, neither crying nor mourning. It implies a refraining from the weeping and mourning he would have wished to do.
Rashbam doesn't say it explicitly, but what I think he means to imply is that such restraint is not the appropriate response. Aaron should have cried out and mourned if that was what he wanted to do. Silence is not golden. Aaron's silence does not teach us how to act and react when events in the world are not as we would wish them to be. Instead, his reaction teaches us to speak out if not to cry out. There are far too many issues that demand our voice and far too many times when we remain silent.
Wednesday, April 21 is Outfront Minnesota's justFair Lobby Day at the Minnesota Capitol. Their publicity for the event says, "Equality in 2011 begins with Action in 2010." Consider making your voice heard and participate in Outfront Minnesota's GLBT Lobby Day in an effort to bring equality - marriage and otherwise - to Minnesota.
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